SOAP Interface not working well from Python

I was trying to use both XML-RPC and SOAP with Confluence 2.2.5 from Python. XML-RPC works fine, except for not handling UTF-8 communication well. The content you get from the Confluence server is OK, but if you put the same thing back the Unicode characters will be damaged.

I am aware that XML-RPC has limitations with respect to such encodings, so I wanted to try my luck with the SOAP interface. It works for some function calls but for others it fails with the following 'duplicate' attribute error:
(There was a similar issue for Jira a year ago, related to the Apache Axis version used).

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "iso.py", line 27, in ?
pages = soap.getPages(auth, "QMS")
File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.4/SOAPpy/Client.py", line 421, in _call_
return self.__r_call(*args, **kw)
File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.4/SOAPpy/Client.py", line 443, in __r_call
self._hd, self._ma)
File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.4/SOAPpy/Client.py", line 347, in __call
p, attrs = parseSOAPRPC(r, attrs = 1)
File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.4/SOAPpy/Parser.py", line 1006, in parseSOAPRPC
t = _parseSOAP(xml_str, rules = rules)
File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.4/SOAPpy/Parser.py", line 988, in _parseSOAP
raise e
xml.sax._exceptions.SAXParseException: <unknown>:1:474: duplicate attribute

—

The example code:

import SOAPpy, getpass, datetime

soap = SOAPpy.WSDL.Proxy('https://wiki.iblsoft.com/rpc/soap-axis/confluenceservice-v1?wsdl')

username = 'bot'
password = '*******'
auth = soap.login(username, password)

pages = soap.getPages(auth, "QMS") # error
spaces = soap.getSpaces(auth) # error
page = soap.getPage(auth, 'SBX', 'Education') # works!